My husand, myself and two kids (ages 9 and 6) stayed at this hotel for 1 week at the end of June.

We didn't know a lot about Samana but were willing to take a risk. My husband booked this trip via TargetVacations. This was a Bahia Principe Roulette. We were not told till we picked up our tickets which hotel we were staying at.

We arrived at Samana early morning and via bus was taken to the resort. It was a 45 minute bus ride. The ride was uneventful, the bus had a/c.

When we arrived we were greeted by dancers and fruit punch. It was still early, before noon and we were told our rooms were not ready yet. The front desk told us to go have some lunch and come back at 1pm. When we came back, we were told again that our rooms were not ready yet and to come back later. At that point, with two kids we decided to go to the beach. The beach is not the same beach as in Punta Cana. It is not that white fine sand but rather coarse. The water is not deep and our kids had a great time all week playing at the beach. We finally decided at 4pm to go the front desk and find out if our room was ready. We were told it was. We discovered that our room (Room 105) is down three flight of stairs..there is no elevator to take our baggage and no one was there to help us. For a five star resort, I was rather surprised that there was no porter to assist us. When we opened the door, we were surprised to see 1 king size bed for 4 people. There was a couch of some sort but nothing else. At that point, a maintenance person came carrying a TV. We said that we are 4 people and there is only 1 bed. He called the front desk, relayed our problem, then handed the phone to my husband who also told them our problem. We were told that a bed was coming. 6 hours later, we still did not recieve a bed. By then it was 9pm, we had gone to front desk numerous times, called font desk numerous times and each time was told that someone was bringing us a bed. As we laid on the king size bed with our kids, we could hear all kinds of noises. We finally realized that our room was below the buffet hall. We could hear people pulling their chairs from the table. The buffet closes at 10:30 pm and opens again at 7 am.

By 9:30pm we finally recieved a cot for our youngest child. We complained to the front desk lady who was also in our room at that time about the noise. She agreed that it was from the buffet hall. We informed her that we would be requesting a new room the next day.

Of course at 7:30am, I woke up from the sounds of the chairs being moved around from the buffet hall.

We proceeded to the front desk the next morning and were told that there were 2 rooms for us to see at the villa. We took the little cart to the villa and checked out the rooms. These rooms had 2 double beds which were perfect. However, when we wanted to go back to the main resort, the driver was gone.Since this was our second day there, we did not know what to do. We waited 15 minutes,no one came to pick us up so we walked back. This would not be our choice of rooms as we did not want to have to walk back to the main resort every day with two children.

We did finally get another room in the main resort which had 2 double beds. I must say though, when we returned in the early evening, there were 2 cots in our room, in addition to the 2 double beds. I guess they were afraid we would complain about the bed issue.

The rest of the week was great. The food at the restaurants were wonderful and the buffet hall was good. The only problem being the chairs which made me feel sorry for whoever was sleeping below.

The service was problematic. We spoke no french or spanish. As such service was not good. We would ask for coffee and it could take up to 15 minutes to get a cup of coffee. Even at the restaurant. One of the waiters poured white wine into my husband's red wine glass and he didn't change the glass. My husband asked for another glass but he never got another glass.

The pool was wonderful as was the entertainment. They work extremely hard.

The bar however closes early and to get a drink one has to go the disco.

They advertised a kids club however it does not exist, at least not for us during that week. We asked at the front desk and they told us that they needed 10 kids. They also advertised kids entertainment but that was not true either. Luckily my kids played with another set of kids during the week and I had packed toys for them.

The weather is amazing, the food was great. I hate to say, however, I would not return.

I will start off by saying that we booked this holiday at the last minute and paid less than £700 each for 2 weeks all inclusive.
We have paid well over double that for other holidays.
There were some complaints at the hotel, mainly about the Restaurants. I agree that the a'la carte restaurants could be improved. The International was closed when we were there. We were told it was because of a gas problem, but we later found out it was because the hotel was not full.
The buffet food could be warmer, but you have to think what you are paying.
The hotel is in a lovely location and the staff are amazing. The bedrooms were large and comfortable.
The beach was clean but the sea was not what you expect for the Dominican Republic. If you are looking for clear blue sea this is going to disapoint you.
We never had problems with beds by the beach or pool but the main pool only has 5 shades and the jacuzzi pools just 3 - Clearly not enough.
The main pool is very lively. The entertainment staff keep everyone amused all day! We preferred the jacuzzi pools. It was really quiet and the snack bar was good.
We did not enjoy the evening entertainment, the staff try really hard but you can tell they have a very limited budget.
We had a few drinks and an early night most evenings.

I would recommend the Playa Rincorn excursion, The beach is truly beautiful. We booked through First Choice. It included a lobster lunch. what was a great day.

We took US$ and used them throughout our stay. The staff do not expect tips but we felt they deserved them.

Overall a lovely hotel with excellent staff and fantastic value for money. Would we go back? I dont think so, maybe we have been spoilt in the past.

Title says it all was the best holiday we have ever been on. The four of us went to have a relaxing break which is what we got. Staff were so friendly the hotel and surroundings were stunning. Food was also excellent the buffet catered for everyone and the 3 a la carte restaurants were fantastic. The entertainment staff are more than entertaining....if staying at this hotel you will have a truly amazing time...we left with more than we went for and now have some friends for life. Considering booking to go back later on in year it was that good.

This hotel is billed as 4 star by the Gran Bahia Group,we have stayed at 4 Gran Bahia hotels in the DR this being the worst ever,firstly the facilities are poor and half of the hotels speciality restaurants were shut,the Spa pool & snack bar are only reachable by what can be described as a trek through the wilderness,the junior suite pictured in brochures is from the Gran Bahia Punta Cana not this hotel as we paid extra for the let down.All in all this hotel is poor compared to the other Gran Bahia sites,needless to say after 2 days we paid the extra and transferred to the Gran Bahia Cayo Levantado(see other review).